Last week, just after (re-)opening night, I got to see Christian Slater reprise his role in the stage adaptation of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. To many people, it’s hard to get beyond Jack Nicholson’s screen version of it from 1978. That’s not such a great problem for me, as it’s simply many years since I’ve seen the film version, and I’ve never been a colossal Nicholson fan.
I’d previously seen a production of the play version of Kesey’s novel at the Theatre Royal Bath back at the end of the eighties (try as I might, I can’t find any details on the web, which is a shame since I can’t remember who played lead character McMurphy).
In this production, McMurphy’s played by Slater who seems to revel in the role, while the evil Nurse Ratched is played by Alex Kingston. This was a better staging of the play than the Bath version, with the simple set dominated by the glass booth from where drugs are dispensed and Ratched controls procedings via a microphone.
Some of my companions were disappointed by Kingston’s portayal of Ratched, since she’s altogether more attractive than she was in the film, and wears bright scarlet lipstick. But this is completely right as far as I was concerned since her sexless life revolves around dominating these troubled men. She enjoys the power that she has. Her pressed crinoline uniform and bright lipstick are well placed.
Overall, it’s an entertaining evening at the theatre. As always there’s a slight issue with the mainly British cast all adopting American accents with varying degrees of believability, but overall it works well.